How The Business Start

In the early 1980s, Hayek was asked by a group of Swiss bankers to oversee a liquidation of ASUAG and SSIH, two Swiss watch-making firms which were in turmoil due to heavy competition from Japanese watch manufacturers such as Seiko and Citizen Watch. Hayek believed that the Swiss watch manufacturing industry could remain competitive and that ASUAG/SSIH could recover after a restructuring of operations and a repositioning of the different brands.

The restructuring of the companies coincided with the invention of the Swatch watch which used far fewer parts than traditional watches and which was thus cheaper to manufacture. The Swatch watch helped the Swiss watch industry reconquer a large share of the lower end of the watch market which it had lost to Japanese makers. Although the colorful plastic watch became quickly known for its flamboyant marketing, Hayek always emphasized that the Swatch watch was first and foremost a technological breakthrough.

Having spearheaded the reorganization of ASUAG and SSIH for more than four years, finally bringing about their merger, Hayek, with a group of Swiss investors, took over a majority shareholding in the new group in 1985. He became Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer in 1986. The merged company was initially named Société Suisse de Microélectronique et d'Horlogerie, or SMH. It later changed its name to Swatch Group.

Hayek played a decisive role in the recovery of the Swatch Group with its watch brands Swatch, Blancpain, Omega, Longines, Rado, Tissot, Certina, Mido, Hamilton, Pierre Balmain, Calvin Klein, Flik Flak, Breguet and Lanco. The strategies he developed in the early 1980s led to the success of the entire Swiss watch industry and regained its leading position worldwide since 1984.